Turkish police on Sunday (May 15) prevented dissidents in the nationalist opposition party from holding an extraordinary congress in Ankara.<br /><br /> Hundreds of party members seeking to reach the hotel where the meeting was scheduled were blocked by barricades and water cannons, according to media reports.<br /><br /> The congress aimed to unseat the MHP’s longtime leader, Devlet Bahceli, whom they blame for the party’s dwindling popularity.<br /><br /> “Bahceli resign, resign”, the crowd chanted.<br /><br /> Bahceli’s main challenger, former interior minister Meral Aksener, accused the ruling AK party of intervening to try to block the congress.<br /><br /> “Those who changed the Prime Minister in an hour are now displaying every unlawful and anti-democratic behaviour to prevent us from holding this congress,” she said.<br /><br /> The AK party needs the MHP’s support to change the Turkish constitution and give president Recep Tayyip Erdogan more powers. The dissidents, including Aksener, oppose the plan.
